Mystery
by OhFantasyWorld
Summary: Based on the short movie "Eu Não Quero Voltar Sozinho" / "I don't want to go back alone". Gabriel tries to solve the mystery called Leo. Story set during the movie. Leo/Gabriel


**A/N: Hi all! Just a couple words before the story: as I have said before, English is not my native language. Also, I don't live anywhere near Brazil or even South America so there may be some accuracy fails.**

**Note that this story is based on the **_**short**_** movie. I've seen the trailer and frankly it looks awesome but as I've not seen the feature length movie (because, duh, it's not out yet) I've ignored it. I'll probably write something based on "The way he looks" when I've seen it (if we ever get to see it in my country..?)**

**This fic is full of my head canons because the short is, well, short, only 17 mins or so. This is how I imagine things went and Gabriel thought. This fic is basically re-telling of the short. It's from Gabriel's POV and I've filled some caps.**

**I tried to edit this as well as I'm capable but I'm 100% there still are mistakes. I hope they are not too obtrusive.**

* * *

Gabriel noticed the change in Leo's behaviour after the day he had walked him home alone for the first time.

He already knew that Leo was polite, funny and generally nice person. But after that occasion, he somehow became even nicer... well, "nice" was too lame a word. "Charming", maybe, or even "lovely".

Leo started to joke more, smile more and blush more around Gabriel. First he thought that maybe Leo was just getting more comfortable with him. He knew that Giovana was his only real friend and their duo had always been strong because it had been just a two of them for a very long time. Leo was not used to making new friends just like that. Gabriel understood this and he was happy to notice that Leo had started to warm up to him.

Gabriel had always been good at observing other persons' behaviour. He saw that Leo genuinely liked him. Giovana was perfectly sweet girl and Gabriel liked her just as much as Leo did, but he thought that Leo probably appreciated the difference between his two friends. Gi was the one who took care of him, showed concern and supported him. Gi was the one who liked talking about anything and everything. He knew she meant well. She thought that because Leo could not see, he should be able to hear everything. She described things, talked about things and drew pictures with her finger on Leo's back. Giovana was helpful and friendly and everyone could see that Leo truly valued that.

But with Gabriel, Leo didn't necessarily have to say anything at all. They could just sit and mind their own business but still not be awkward. Gabriel was the one who always listened without interrupting. He was aware that not all people liked him because he didn't mind silence. It was considered weird. Gabriel just didn't have a need to talk all the time. Of course Leo and he had conversations, lengthy ones, even, but they were less intense than the ones with Giovana. Gabriel guessed that Leo sometimes preferred his company because Giovana didn't quite understand that Leo's blindness wasn't just a disability (it was that, too, sometimes) or something Leo needed to be somehow protected. Because sometimes trying to see without actually seeing would be exhausting.

Just like Gabriel didn't mind silence (but he still liked to talk) Leo didn't mind darkness (but he still liked to be able to see things in his mind).

So, yes, Gabriel knew from the beginning that they had this unspoken connection and that they liked each other. But something about Leo's behaviour troubled him. He acted in a certain way with Gabriel: he laughed more, he joked more. He touched his hair and wringed his shirt's hem. Like he was more nervous and less nervous at the same time. It was a mystery to Gabriel and he liked that sort of mysteries.

So he was more than happy when he could walk Leo home alone. Maybe he could begin to understand his new friend a bit better.

"So," he said after they had walked a while. "You two have been friends for a long time, haven't you?"

Leo smiled. "Yeah, ages. She was the only one who had enough patience. I mean- nobody was mean to me. But you know how young children are: they want to have fun and play. And more often than not I couldn't be part of their games. Giovana was a girl who took me under her wings."

"She's a kind person," Gabriel said.

"Mm, she's like sister to me."

'Sisterly' was the right word to describe Giovana, Gabriel thought. Or maybe even 'motherly'.

"Hey, listen," Leo said. Suddenly, he was a bit nervous. "Do you... do you really live near my home? Or did you just say that because you wanted to be nice?"

He doesn't like then people lie, even it's just a small white lie, for him, Gabriel noted. He smiled and shook his head.

"No, I really live near. Your street is en route to my home," he said.

"Oh, okay. Good."

"But I wanted to be nice, too," Gabriel said airily. "Because, you know, I'm a nice person."

Leo snorted. He was relaxed again. "Right. Very nice of you to walk with me when you would walk this way anyway."

"But I could be a jerk and just run away."

"Well I wouldn't just remain standing right at this spot, you know. I've my white stick," Leo informed him.

"Yeah, but that wouldn't be very nice, would it?" Gabriel insisted.

"...no?"

"So, in conclusion, I am a very nice guy."

Leo laughed. "Well, thank you very much for walking next to me and allowing me to follow you instead of running away. Good enough?"

Gabriel nudged him softly. "Yeah. You're welcome."

"Are you always like this?" Leo asked.

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Quirky? No, that's not right, sorry." Leo stammered.

"I believe the word you are looking for is 'witty'," Gabriel said carelessly.

"Witty. Nice and witty, you are," Leo said. They had reached his house's front gate. Gabriel didn't have to stop them because Leo knew exactly where they were. Of course he knew, it was his home.

"Thanks again," Leo said when Gabriel had opened the gate for him and handed the keys back.

"No problem at all. And I'm glad we established that I've a few quite good traits," Gabriel answered, smirking. He felt weirdly light when Leo smiled too.

"Maybe next time we'll try to find something good about me?" he joked.

"We can always try. We might find something."

"_Might?_ Excuse me..."

"We'll see," Gabriel teased and took Leo's hand to his own so they could shake them. "See you tomorrow, yeah?"

"Yeah," Leo replied. They were quite close and Gabriel couldn't help but notice that Leo kept holding his hand a bit too long. Interesting. "Bye."

"Bye, Leo," he said and let go. He watched Leo disappear behind the gate.

Very interesting.

* * *

After that their relationship changed visibly.

It was hard to pinpoint what exactly had changed. Nothing huge had actually happened: they had just walked and talked. But sometimes it didn't have to be anything huge to be effective.

In school hallways Leo insisted on sitting in the middle when Giovana tried to do so. He touched Gabriel's arm 'accidentally' and leaned just a little bit at Gabriel's direction when they were sitting next to each other. When they played hide and seek in Leo's room, he was certain that Leo intentionally tried to find Gabriel first so he could playfully mock him being bad at hiding.

Gabriel was sure that no one else noticed that as quickly as he did. Even Giovana wasn't aware of it at first. She just seemed to be happy that they had a new friend who accepted Leo's blindness. Leo himself was just as unaware as she was. All his flirting and touching seemed to be unconscious.

Gabriel kept a mental notebook in his head, titled as "Signs That Leo Likes Me That Way". It wasn't horribly long list but it had some important points like "he tried subtly ask me if I liked boys at all" and "he always finds some excuse to talk to me during the class".

Still, he wasn't sure. What if he was reading the signs all wrong? What if they even weren't sings at all and that was just the way Leo acted around everyone? Gabriel had to absolutely sure before he could take action. He just needed some big, final sign.

And that's when their history teacher gave them the Sparta assignment.

If Gabriel had been that sort of person, he could have jumped up and shouted "yes!" from top of his lungs when the teacher announced that the pairs had to be male-male and female-female. Of course he didn't do that, for lots of reasons (for example, Giovana didn't look too happy about it) but he was extremely glad.

Because now he had a perfect opportunity to spend some time alone with Leo and wait for The Final Sign.

But first, he wanted to be sure about one thing.

Giovana had left with Larissa and the boys were sitting side by side at the hallway. Leo was reading his Braille-written book. Gabriel brought up his blindness. They had never actually talked about it because Gabriel hadn't known how sensitive the topic was to Leo. Turned out, it wasn't: Leo talked freely about his dissimilarity. Gabriel learned that Leo had been like that since his birth and he was more or less okay with it.

"So, you've never seen Giovana's face," Gabriel said, trying to sound casual.

"No, I haven't," Leo said.

"She's a nice girl. I think she likes you." That was the thing that made Gabriel worried: Leo seemed to have some sort of feelings for him, but if Leo and Giovana liked each other, he wouldn't come between them. He had seen that Giovana sometimes looked Leo with dreaming, gentle eyes. He wanted to inform Leo about this. It was just fair that Leo would understand the whole picture.

"Of course she likes me, she's my friend," Leo said, confused.

"Yeah, but I meant she's interested in you."

"Oh shut up, she is not!" Leo said laughing, like the whole idea was ridiculous.

"She looks at you like you're more than friends." Gabriel wanted that Leo knew this. He wanted to know that there was a possibility that he and Giovana could be a couple, if he wanted them to be.

Leo's smile faded. "No, enough about that," he said quietly.

Gabriel pressed on, because he had to be absolutely sure. "What about you? Are you interested in her?"

Leo shook his head and said cheerfully: "No." And that was it.

So Gabriel let that worry go and started waiting for the Big, Final Sign.

He didn't have to wait long. They went to Leo's house and after Gabriel had witnessed the glorious sight of shirtless Leo, he took off his sweat shirt and asked for a bathroom. He left but went back to fetch his toothpaste. He had to stop at the threshold. Leo was sitting in front of his computer desk and he was sniffing Gabriel's sweat shirt. He stood there for a while, staring mutedly at the scene. Leo's eyes were open and he breathed in deeply. He was smelling _Gabriel's scent._

Suddenly, his heart was beating rapidly in his chest. Eventually, he forced his legs to move and walked to the bathroom.

He stared himself in the mirror and thought: "that was definitely The Final Sign".

He went back and acted normally. Well, as normally as he could, it was weird to be around Leo, now that he knew for certain that the other boy was in love with him and just act like he didn't know it.

They did the assignment for a while until they both agreed that they could continue it the next day. Gabriel was reluctant to leave and Leo didn't look like he wished him to go, so he stayed a bit longer.

"It's kind of strange to do school projects with someone else than Giovana," Leo said. He was sitting on a windowsill, looking relaxed and calm. Gabriel sat on the floor right next to his friend's legs.

"Hopefully not too strange," Gabriel said, not seriously. He knew what Leo meant.

Leo knew that too, but he kicked him lightly anyway. "Not like that! It's just... it's different."

"How so?"

Leo looked a bit uncomfortable. "Giovana has... a tendency to do most of the work. It's usually all right, because, hey, less work for me!"

Gabriel chuckled. "But?" he encouraged.

"But... it would be nice to know that half of our good grade is my credit, you know? Usually my credit is only, like, one quarter. And it bugs me, even if no one else knows," Leo admitted.

"Well, have you told her? Why she keeps doing that anyway? She knows better than anyone that you can read and write just as well as anyone else."

"It's not actually about my blindness. Well, it is, a bit. Gi just wants that we do school things quickly. She stresses very easily and I guess she just wants to get it done as soon as possible. I'm often too slow. And yeah, I've tried to tell her that she could just let me help more but it just... I don't know. She doesn't do it on purpose."

"I know," Gabriel said. "But, lucky to you, I'm as lazy as you are and I don't stress easily. So this time, you will get your credit. That is, if you're not too lazy and leave everything to me."

Leo smiled and somehow looked Gabriel in the eye without knowing it. "Thanks. And I won't."

And because I don't want this to over too soon, Gabriel added in his head. He was sure Leo was thinking the same thing.

They sat on comfortable silence for an hour and all that time Gabriel wondered, how he could make the next move. He didn't want to bring up what he had seen earlier when Leo thought he was in bathroom... no, it would just make him embarrassed.

"What do you usually do at your free time? When you're not busy with school stuff, I mean," he asked. Leo shrugged.

"I just... well, I listen to music. I read quite a lot. Talk with Gi or my parents. Usual stuff," he answered hesitantly, like he wasn't sure if Gabriel really was interested in what he was saying.

"I would like to learn read Braille," Gabriel said thoughtfully.

"Why? You don't have to, you can see," Leo pointed out, unnecessarily.

"Well, yeah, I can. But I like to learn new things, even if they are not exactly necessary. For example, I love mathematics but I'm pretty sure I will never use algebra in everyday life. Learning makes life more challenging and fun. Plus, it makes me feel smarter," Gabriel grinned.

"So did I get this right," Leo said and lowered himself to sit next to Gabriel on the floor. "You want to learn Braille, because you think it would be fun challenge and it would grow your ego?"

"Exactly!" Gabriel said, smirking. "Will you teach me, sometimes?"

Leo smiled at him. He nodded.

"Yeah, sure," he said and Gabriel was happy.

* * *

Everything was great. Gabriel was basically walking his head in the clouds. There was just one little problem: Giovana.

He approached his friends in a hallway. They were sitting side by side and for some reason Giovana looked a bit unhappy.

"Hi, shall we go?" Gabriel asked. Leo jumped up quickly and smile appeared in his face at the moment he heard Gabriel's voice. And then, he took hold of Gabriel's arm.

It was a weird moment: on the one hand, Gabriel was ecstatic seeing Leo so eager and happy but on the other hand, his actions left Giovana standing next to them, looking the two boys sadly. Gabriel locked his eyes with her. She wasn't angry but Gabriel felt awful. He knew that he wasn't doing anything bad but Giovana's expression was absolutely heart-breaking.

Of course, Leo didn't see this. "Are you still here?" he asked, still smiling. It was clear that he didn't think that situation was odd at all.

"Yeah. Let's go, I'm hungry," Giovana said quietly and started to walk.

Their walk home was pretty quiet. Leo tried to say something once in a while but neither of his friends were in a mood to discuss with him. Giovana still looked melancholy and Gabriel just felt awkward.

"Have you finished your assignment?" she asked when it was her time to depart.

"No, we'll finish it today," Leo answered cheerfully, still not noticing Giovana's unhappiness.

"Okay. Bye then." She kissed them on a cheek and left.

The whole thing with Giovana and her obvious feelings for Leo was unsettling. Gabriel felt like he was an intruder while he knew that he wasn't. It wasn't his fault that Leo liked him and not her. It was _nobody's_ fault. People cannot choose who they fall in love with, it just happens.

If Gabriel was a bit quiet that afternoon, Leo did not notice. They completed their assignment fairly quickly and they stated that they both were pleased with the result. Gabriel couldn't help but feel a bit sad that they were done: now he didn't have a good excuse to visit Leo so often.

"Are you leaving?" Leo asked then Gabriel was packing his stuff into his backpack. He sounded just a little panicked, like he really didn't want Gabriel to leave. That made funny things to Gabriel's heart.

"No, I'm just tidying up a bit," he said even though he had thought about leaving.

"I was wondering..." Leo started. Gabriel waited. "That... if you still want... I could teach you how to read Braille?"

That was a surprise. Gabriel hadn't actually thought that Leo would take his wish to learn Braille letters seriously. Gabriel _had_ been serious when he had said it. He could tell that while Leo was happy to learn about things he couldn't see, he would also want people to learn some things about his world.

Soon he found out that the pleasure of teaching was not Leo's only motive.

"Give me your hand," he said after he had tried to explain how Braille text worked in theory.

Gabriel had to confess that he didn't learn a single thing that afternoon. How could he have, when Leo was so close and holding his hand?

* * *

Gabriel had a cat at home*. His sweat shirt was probably full of cat's hair.

And apparently, Leo was allergic to cats.

"Bless you," Gabriel said when Leo sneezed in the classroom.

"Thanks," Leo muttered.

Gabriel couldn't help but smile a bit. "Leo," he said and put his hand on his shoulder. "I felt my sweat shirt at your place yesterday." He whispered the words, leaning close to Leo's ear. The shoulder under his hand was tense.

"Come and fetch it after school."

"I can't. I have a dentist's appointment."

He knew that it wasn't his imagination when Leo looked a bit disappointed.

"Well, I'll bring it to school tomorrow," he promised.

They both went back to writing and Gabriel wondered when he should just gather himself and just tell Leo that he knew about the other boy's feelings and he felt the same. But for some reason he wanted Leo be the one to tell that. He wanted to hear Leo saying the words 'I'm in love with you.' Perhaps it was selfish but somehow it was important. Because when he was ready to admit that to Gabriel, he was ready to admit it to himself, too.

He would wait as long as he needed to.

* * *

His visit to dentist was short because his teeth were fine and no operations were needed. Gabriel was a bit shaky after the visit (he hated dentist appointments with a burning passion) and he decided to fetch his shirt from Leo's. Maybe Leo's presence would help him to calm down a bit.

He walked briskly to Leo's house and rang the doorbell with a quivering finger. Leo's mom opened the door and welcomed him in.

"Leo's upstairs, in his room," she said. "He has been quite distracted today. Do you know why?"

Gabriel assured her that he didn't know. He had expected that Giovana would be there, too. Had something happened between them? He hoped that they hadn't been fighting...

He climbed up the stairs and opened Leo's room's door without knocking. He was just going to say something, announce his presence, but he had just opened his mouth when Leo was already up and talking.

"Giovana!" he said, sounding distressed. Gabriel was about to say that he was not her but-

"I can't believe that you left me alone after what I told you! I know it wasn't easy to hear, but I told you something like that and you just left me to wait. And I bet you ate a dessert!"

Gabriel was holding his breath. What Leo had told her? He knew it wasn't right, he should've interrupted him but it was already too late. Leo's features softened and he looked defeated.

"I've started to wonder if I shouldn't have told you that I'm in love with Gabriel."

Smile broke into Gabriel's face and he had to lower his eyes. There it was: he said it. Leo had said the words. Well, technically he had said them to "Giovana" but it was somehow even more awesome to hear him saying "I love Gabriel" than "I love you". Now there was no doubt who Leo meant. If his heart wasn't pounding before, now it was practically going to burst out.

"And you are already jealous type," Leo continued, still sounding anguished, unaware of the immense joy his listener was experiencing. "What will happen to us now?"

_Well, that is an excellent question_, Gabriel thought, light-headedly._ I'll show you._

"Giovana?"

He didn't answer verbally. Instead, he took couple steps forward, tilted his head a bit, closed his eyes and kissed Leo.

Gabriel had just enough time to memorize the feeling of Leo's soft lips and feel him freeze completely. Then, he took a step back. Leo raised his hand, with intention of touching his face, but Gabriel was already too far away. He picked up his sweat shirt from Leo's desk and left the room without saying a word.

He ran out of the house. He wasn't exactly sure why he did that. He wasn't sure he had done _any_ of that.

He was out on the street and he felt like he wasn't supposed to be there. He was supposed to be with Leo and explain him everything. Said that he feels the same. Now he had just left poor Leo confused.

Gabriel had to stop walking. He sat on a bench and breathed deeply. He had kissed _Leo_. He had_ kissed _Leo.

While Leo thought he was Giovana. Damn.

But he had taken his sweat shirt! Surely Leo would notice that? Of course he would, Gabriel told himself. Leo was blind, yes, but it didn't mean that he wouldn't notice things.

He couldn't help but smile. _"I'm in love with Gabriel." _He repeated those words in his head over and over again. Leo had actually said it.

_Gabriel_ hadn't said it, but sometimes actions spoke louder than words.

As he had observed some time ago, Leo didn't always want to hear everything, he wanted to be able to understand things without someone spelling them to him.

_What will happen to us now?_ He repeated Leo's own question.

Hopefully Leo's answer would be the same as his had been.

* * *

Passer-bys wondered why some boy was sitting on a bench quietly and all alone. He had a little smile on his face.

Weird boy, they thought.

* * *

**A/N2: *I've wondered why they decided to put Leo's sneeze in that scene. It seemed so random. I still don't know the right answer but in my head it's important because Gabriel knows that his sweat shirt is at Leo's. He also knows that the shirt is full of cat's hair. So conclusion: Leo sneezes, because he has still been sniffing that shirt. :)**


End file.
